The Story of Bizet's Opera, Carmen (Synopsis) Zuniga (bass) The Story of Carmen, Act I In a town square in Seville, soldiers and townspeople are gathered chatting and moving about, when a young peasant girl name Micaela questions the soldiers about her love, Don Jose. The soldiers try to persuade the young girl to stay with them until Don Jose returns, but she declines and leaves. Soon, Don Jose arrives moments before the cigarette factory bell rings and a group of women, including the beautiful gypsy, Carmen, exit the building. The soldiers flirt with the girls and asks Carmen when when she will love them. continue reading below our video Celebrity Breakups of 2015 We Didn't See Coming Her reply is given in the famous aria, "L'amour est un oiseau rebella" a.k.a. the Habanera. (Can't understand French? Read the Habanera lyrics and translation ). ( Watch a video of the Habanera .) Learn more about the creation of the Habanera in this Habanera Profile . When Carmen sees Don Jose she tosses a flower in front of him in order to seduce him.

Don Jose picks up the flower and becomes enchanted by the beautiful Carmen. Shortly thereafter, Micaela returns with a letter and a kiss sent to Don Jose by his mother. In the letter, Don Jose's mother has asked him to marry Micaela. Don Jose promises his fidelity and love to Micaela. Moments later, a fight breaks out at the cigarette factory between Carmen and another woman. Carmen injures the woman before she is captured by Officer Zuniga. Zuniga commands Don Jose to escort Carmen to prison. However, Carmen charms Don Jose into letting her escape. When Don Jose is discovered for letting Carmen escape, he is thrown into jail for one month's time. The Story of Carmen, Act II At Lilas Pastia's Inn, Carmen and her friends, Mercedes and Frasquita, are socializing with several soldiers including Officer Zuniga, when the victorious bullfighter, Escamillo, arrives with a celebrating entourage. During the Toreador song, "Votre toast, je peux vos le rendre", Escamilo attempts to capture Carmen's heart. ( Watch a video of "Votre toast" (Toreador Song). ) Learn the Toreador Song lyrics and text translation .

However, his attempts are unsuccessful, as are Officer Zuniga's, who tells Carmen that he will return to the inn later to meet with her - Carmen's heart waits for Don Jose's release from prison. A while later, once the crowd has dispersed, the smugglers Dancairo and Remendado ask for help from Carmen and her two friends. Mercedes and Frasquita agree to help, but Carmen refuses as she knows that Don Jose will be released from prison that day and meet her at the inn. When he finally arrives, Carmen dances for him. Her dance is cut short when a bugle sounds in the distance, signaling Don Jose to return home. Carmen mocks his obedience and tries to persuade him to remain with her and live the gypsy life. Don Jose does not give in until Zuniga arrives at the inn searching for Carmen. Zuniga orders Don Jose to leave, but in a fit of jealousy, he defies his commanders orders. Dancairo and Remendado tackle Zuniga and take him away from the inn. After all of this, Don Jose, feeling as if he has no other choice, stays at the inn with Carmen.

The Story of Carmen, Act III Don Jose, now at the smuggler's hideout in the mountains, begins to reminisce about his former home and his mother and starts missing them dearly. Carmen, who has decided she no longer loves him, takes notice and starts taunting him to leave, but he does not. Mercedes and Frasquita tell their fortunes with a deck of cards. For the two girls, the cards reveal a life of wealth, love, and luxury. For Carmen and Don Jose, it reveals death. After discussing their plains, the smugglers and the girls leave, while Don Jose watches over the hideout. Soon, Micaela, assisted by a guide, comes to the mountain hideout and hides behind a mound of rocks when she hears a gunshot fired by Escamillo. Escamillo enters the hideout and begins telling Don Jose about his crush on Carmen. He also tells Don Jose about Carmen's relationship with a soldier, not knowing the story is about Don Jose. Don Jose becomes very angry and starts fighting Escamillo. The smugglers return before the fight gets worse. Escamillo invites Carmen and the others to his upcoming bullfight as he leaves the hideout.

Micaela finally emerges from her hiding spot, and tries to convince Don Jose to return home during the aria "Je dis, que rien ne m'épouvante". (Watch a video of "Je dis".) After several unsuccessful attempts, she finally persuades him to leave by telling him his beloved mother is dying. Don Jose promises his return to Carmen and leaves with Micaela. In the distance, Escamillo can be heard singing, and Carmen begins heading in that direction. The Story of Carmen, Act IV During the procession of the toreadors, Carmen and Escamillo are seen arriving together. Mercedes and Frasquita warn Carmen that Don Jose is lurking around the crowd plotting to kill her. She tells them that she will speak to him to resolve the matter once and for all. While Escamillo enters the bullfighting ring, a desperate Don Jose meets Carmen outside the arena. He tells her she must commit her love and fidelity to him. She explains that she no longer loves him and throws the ring he gave her on the ground. Now completely mad, Don Jose stabs Carmen in the heart with a dagger. She dies simultaneously with Escamillo's bullfighting victory.

When the arena empties, Don Jose confesses his crime to the crowd. (Watch a video of the final scene from Carmen.) Toreador Song Lyrics and Text Translation Toreador Song Lyrics and Text Translation Toreador Song Lyrics and Text Translation Escamillo's Aria from Bizet's Carmen By Aaron Green Updated July 29, 2016. Georges Bizet was an influential romantic period composer who won many awards for his compositions. One of his most famous operas, Carmen, is a fascinating tale of passion, romance, and betrayal. If you're not familiar with the opera's story, I recommend taking a few minutes to read the Carmen synopsis . Throughout Carmen, you'll hear fantastic arias , including one of the opera's most famous and instantly recognizable Habanera . (When you've finished reading the lyrics to the Toreador Song, I'm sure you'll enjoy listening to Maria Callas and other sopranos perform the Habanera ). Another famous aria is the Toreador Song, which I've provided the translation and lyrics below. This delightful and catchy aria is first sung during Act 2 by the victorious bullfighter, Escamillo, then again in Act 4.

At Lilas Pastia's Inn, the beautiful Carmen and her friends are flirting and socializing with a small group of soldiers when Escamillo and his boisterous entourage burst into the inn after a victorious bullfight. continue reading below our video Top 5 Longest Running TV Shows After spotting Carmen across the room, Escamillo attempts to win her affection by singing this aria. French Text Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre, Senor, senors car avec les soldats Oui, les Toreros, peuvent s'entendre; Pour plaisirs, pour plaisirs, Pousses jusques a la fureur! Car c'est la fete du courage! C'est la fete des gens de co Allons! en garde! Allons! Allons! ah! Toreador, en garde! Toreador, Toreador! Et songe bien, oui, songe en combattant Qu'un oeil noir te regarde, Et que l'amour t'attend, Et songe bien, oui, songe en combattant Qu'un oeil noir te regarde, Et que l'amour t'attend, Tout d'un coup, on fait silence... Ah!

que se passe-t-il? Plus de cris, c'est l'instant! Plus de cris, c'est l'instant! le taureau s'elance En bondissant hors du Toril! Il s'elance! Il entre, Il frappe! un cheval roule, Entrainant un Picador, Ah! bravo! Toro! Hurle la foule! Le taureau va, il vient, il vient et frappe encore! En secouant ses banderilles, Plein de fureur, il court! Le cirque est plein de sang! On se sauve, on franchit les grilles! C'et ton tour maintenant! allons! En garde! allons! allons! Ah! Toreador, en garde! Toreador, Toreador!

Et songe bien, oui, songe en combattant Qu'un oeil noir te regarde, Et que l'amour t'attend, Et songe bien, oui, songe en combattant Qu'un oeil noir te regarde Et que l'amour t'attend, Et songe bien, oui, songe en combattant Qu'un oeil noir te regarde Et que l'amour t'attend, it is the feast day! The arena is full, from top to bottom; The spectators are losing their minds, The spectators began a big fracas! Apostrophes, cries, and uproar grow to a furor! Because it is a celebration of courage! It is the celebration of people with heart! Let’s go, en guard! Let’s go! Let’s go! Ah! Toreador, en guard! Toreador, Toreador! And dream away, yes, dream in combat, That a black eye is watching you, And that love awaits you, Toreador, love awaits you! And dream away, yes dream in combat, That a black eye is watching you And may love await you, Toreador, love await you!

All of a sudden, it is silent... Ah, what is happening? More cries! It is the moment! More cries! It is the moment! The bull throws himself out Bounding out of the bullpin! He throws himself out! He enters. He strikes! A horse rolls, Dragging a picador, Ah, Bravo! Bull! The crowd roars! The bull goes, he comes, He comes and strikes again! Shaking his dart-stabbed neck, Full of fury, he runs! The arena is full of blood! They save themselves, they pass the gates It is your turn now. Let’s go! En guard! Let’s go! Let’s go! Ah! Toreador, en guard! Toreador, Toreador! And dream away, yes, dream in combat, That a black eye is watching you, And that love awaits you, Toreador, Love awaits you! And dream away, yes, dream in combat, That a black eye is looking at you And that love awaits you Toreador, love awaits you! And dream away, yes, dream in combat, That a black eye is looking at you And that love awaits you And that love awaits you.

Toreador, love awaits you! Best Opera Songs | List of Top Famous Arias from Operas < > > The Best Opera Songs Originally By Buster McDermott 13k votes 5.5k voters 839k views 70 items tags f t p @ What are the best opera songs of all time? With so many possibilities and choices, it's hard to come up with a definitive list, but that's exactly what's going on here. This list includes some of the most popular opera arias from the best operas ever, complete with videos, wherever possible. Vote for the opera songs you love the most, vote down any you don't like and please, do add any choices that might be missing. You can also re-rank this list of the best opera songs any way you like. If you're an opera aficionado, most if not all of these great opera songs will be instantly familiar to you. If you're sitting there thinking, "I don't know the first thing about opera," you might be wrong. Many of the most famous opera arias are used in popular culture. Some are used as background music for commercials and certainly for movie trailers.

One big example of an opera song used in pop culture is "The Flower Duet," from the French opera Lakme. This song can be found in several commercials and movies, including ads for British Airways and the films The Hunger, The American President and Meet the Parents, among others. And Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," from his famous opera Die Walküre, can be heard in several major films, including Full Metal Jacket and Apocalypse Now. See? Even if you think you don't know opera, you do, sort of. You will after perusing this list and watching some of the videos, too. No list of the best opera songs would be complete without songs from one of the most famous operas ever, George Bizet's Carmen. Of those songs, "Habanera" is probably the most well-known, but there are many others. If your favorite Carmen aria isn't listed, again, feel free to add it. A truly outstanding opera song is memorable, emotional and very personal. Not everyone likes the same things – that's part of what makes music so wonderful, after all. Everyone has differing opinions, so enjoy giving yours with your votes here.

2 See list ranked by Z G Options B Comments & Embed 2rerank list 1 - 19 added by BitzNera Why is this #17? 10 Operas You Didn't Know You Already Like - Neatorama Neatorama • 8 If the word "opera" brings an image of a fat lady singing and sends you running away, you're missing out. Many operas are so famous that they've entered into pop culture. In fact, you probably already know more about operas than you think. Here are the 10 Operas You Didn't Know You Already Like*: Note: Belay that hate mail - I know that technically these are arias, but let's not quibble, mmkay?

Léo Delibes' Lakmé: The Flower Duet This is one is my personal favorite: Dame Joan Sutherland and Jane Berbié sing the Flower Duet [ YouTube Link ], lyrics Read the rest of the article: Lakmé is an opera composed by French composer Léo Delibes in 1881, based on the autobiographical novel Le Mariage de Loti by Pierre Loti (about Loti's romantic liaison with an exotic Tahitian girl, how's that for a premise of the novel?). The opera is famous for its complex and beautiful melodies. Synopsis: The opera is about an Indian girl named Lakmé, daughter of a fanatical Brahmin priest. One day, a British officer named Gérald accidentally trespasses on the grounds of the temple where he encounters and falls in love with her. At first, she is afraid but later she grows to love Gérald. more » « less In the second act, Lakmé's father Nilakantha, vows revenge and forces Lakmé to sing and thus lure Gérald into identifying himself. Nilakantha stabs him, but she then hides him in the forest and nurses him back to health.

In the last act, while she is away, a fellow British officer reminds Gérald of his duty. After Lakmé returns, she notices the change in her lover and realizes that she has lost him. Rather than living with the dishonor, Lakmé kills herself by poison. Where have you heard it before? British Airways ads! Giacomo Puccini's Turandot: Nessun Dorma The "Three Tenors" (Placido Domingo, José Carreras, and Luciano Pavarotti) sing Nessun Dorma [ YouTube Link ], lyrics Giacomo Puccini is one of the heavyweights in opera: his masterpieces includes La Bohème, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly - some of the most popular operas in history - and many others. It's difficult to limit this list to just two selections from Puccini operas ... Synopsis: Turandot is an opera about a beautiful but cold-hearted Chinese Princess of the same name. The law of the land says that anyone who wants to marry Turandot has to answer three riddles - but if he failed, then he would be killed.

The hero, Prince Calàf, after meeting his long lost father Timur and a slave girl named Liù, takes the challenge ... more » « less ... and answers correctly: [Turandot] then confronts Calàf with the first riddle: "What is born each night and dies at dawn?" "Hope," Calàf answers, correctly. Unwavering, Turandot asks the second question: "What flickers red and warm like a flame, yet is not fire?" "Blood," says Calàf. Turandot is shaken. No one else has ever gotten even this far with her riddles. She asks the third question: "What is like ice yet burns?" Boldly, Calàf answers, "Turandot!" Right again. (Source) Turandot, however, doesn't want to get married so Calàf tells her a riddle of his own: if she can guess his name by dawn, then he will give up his claim of marriage and sacrifice his own life.

This sets the stage for the most famous aria of the opera, Nessun Dorma (None shall sleep!), as commanded by the Princess: on pain of death, no one in Peking (as it was called then) shall sleep until she learns his name. A group of soldiers than drag in Timur and Liù, saying that they have been spotted with Calàf and therefore should know his name. The loyal slave girl Liù speaks that she alone knows his name but refuses to reveal it even under torture. Turandot is taken by her resolve and asks her the secret of her strength. "Love," she replies, right before she seizes a dagger from a soldier's belt and kills herself. Calàf reproaches Turandot for her cruelty, then kisses her and reveals his real name to her. The Princess falls in love with him, and as they approach the Emperor's throne, she reveals his name as "Love." Read more about the story here: Link Puccini didn't finish Turandot; he died while working on the middle of Act III. Several composers had created several endings, but purists don't accept any of them. How do you pronounce it?

Turandot comes from the Persian word Turandokht meaning "daughter of Turan" and therefore should've been pronounced "turanDOT," but Puccini has italian-ized it and pronounced it "turanDOUGH." Where have you heard it before? Well, if you're an avid of the TV show "Britain's Got Talent," cell phone salesman Paul Potts won in 2007 with this song: Link [YouTube] Giacomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly: Un Bel dì Vedremo Mika Mori sings Un Bel Di: [ YouTube Link ], Lyrics (fun starts at 0:22) Synopsis: Madame Butterfly is a story about a Cio-Cio-San, or "Butterfly" as she is known to her friends, a young Japanese geisha in turn of the 20th century, Nagasaki. Butterfly renounces her faith and marries an American sailor named Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton, who left Japan soon afterwards but promises to return to her. more » « less Three years have passed and Butterfly has been raising their son by herself.

She calls her son "Sorrow" and says that his name will be changed to "Joy" when Pinkerton returns. When her faithful servant suspects that Pinkerton has abandoned her, Butterfly sang one of the most famous arias in the world, "Un bel dì vedremo," saying "one fine day we shall see" (that he returns to her). Pinkerton does return ... but with a new American wife. Realizing that she has been replaced, Butterfly gives them the son and commits suicide. Where have you heard it before? Love is a Many-Splendored Thing , Fatal Attraction. Georges Bizet's Carmen: Habanera Maria Callas sing Habanera from her 1962 performance: YouTube Link The opera Carmen is a 1875 adaptation by Georges Bizet of a novella of the same name by Prosper Mérimée. For a year after its premiere, it was considered a failure and was even condemned as "immoral" - now, Carmen is one of the most-performed operas in North America. Synopsis: The story revolves around a beautiful gypsy woman named Carmen and her lover Don José.

The opera opens with a scene in a tobacco factory: when the beautiful Carmen appears, all the men ask her when she will love them - and she replied that "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle que nul ne peut apprivoiser" (love is a rebellious bird that nothing can tame) in the famous aria Habanera. A fight ensues in the factory, and when a brigadier in the Spanish army named Don José and his superior Zuniga arrive, they discover Carmen has been fighting. They arrest her, but Carmen seduces José and escapes. more » « less A month later, Carmen and her female friends are dancing when Zuniga and a matador named Escamillo try to woo her. She refuses them both and can think only of José, who is due to get out of jail. After they left, José arrives and Carmen asks him to join her and her smuggler friends. At first, he refuses, but he is surprised by Zuniga - José is then forced to flee with Carmen. Carmen stops loving José, and decides that the matador Escamillo is a better fit for her.

The matador and José almost got into a fight, but it is averted when José hears the news that his mother is dying and so he left. At a bullfight in Seville, Carmen professes her love to Escamillo but talks to José, who has descended into madness and depravity. She says that she was born free and will die free. When she throws away the ring that he gave her, José stabs and kills the gypsy and she dies. Read the full synopsis here: Link How do you pronounce his name? Bee-zay. Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana: Intermezzo Here's something different: there's no singing in this piece! Violinist André Rieu plays the Intermezzo: [ YouTube Link ] Synopsis: Mascani's Cavalleria Rusticana (or Rustic Chivalry) is a story of lust, revenge and betrayal. The story begins when Turridu, a returning soldier finds that his true love Lola had married another man named Alfio while he was away. Turridu seduces a young woman named Santuzza, but then also starts having an affair with Lola, who realizes that she still loves him.

Santuzza, spurned by Turridu, tells Alfio about the affair. Enraged, Alfio challenges Turridu to a duel to the death and kills him. Where have you heard it before: Godfather Part III (1990) and Raging Bull (1980) Richard Wagner's Die Walküre: Ride of the Valkyries Ride of the Valkyries by the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland, conducted by Edo De Waart: [ YouTube Link ] Richard Wagner composed Die Walküre (The Valkyrie) as part of four epic operas called Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, or more commonly Wagner's Ring Cycle) written over the course of about 26 years, from 1848 to 1874. And by epic, we mean EPIC: the four operas have a total playing time of about 15 hours, split over four nights (and yes, Wagner " opera marathon " has been performed before).

Synopsis: The Nibelung dwarf Alberich forged a magic ring with the power to rule the world from gold stolen from the Rhinemaidens of the river Rhine. Not surprisingly, everyone wants it, including Wotan (or Odin, the chief of the Norse gods). more » « less Wotan orders his daughter, a valkyrie named Brünnhilde to protect a man named Siegmund (who is actually the son of Wotan - it's complicated) then later orders her to ensure his death. When Brünnhilde refuses, Wotan turns her into a mortal and put her in a deep sleep - and Siegmund dies anyway, but not before fathering the hero of the saga, Siegfried. Siegfried, after a series of adventure involving a dragon/giant, wakens Brünnhilde with a kiss and gave her the ring. Siegfried was tricked into drinking a potion to erase his memory of loving Brünnhilde and instead promised her to a man named Gunther. Then it gets really complicated: Siegried, disguised as Gunther, kidnaps Brünnhilde and takes her ring.

Later, Brünnhilde finds out that Siegfried has the ring and realizes that she was betrayed - so she plots to kill Siegfried.... only to realize afterwards that he was innocent. Brünnhilde then takes the ring and returns it to the Rhinemaidens. You can read the entire story here: Link or on Wikipedia . Did Wagner inspire Tolkien? If you're wondering if Wagner's Ring Cycle and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are related, that's because both people were inspired by the same Old Norse mythologies. Tolkien said "Both rings were round, and there the resemblance ceases." (Carpenter, H. and Tolkien, C. 1981 The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien) How do you pronounce his name? That's VAGH-ner, not WAG-ner. Where have you heard it before? Apocalypse Now.

Jacques Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann: Barcarolle Sisters Irina and Cristina Iordachescu, with pianist Gonul Apdula: [ YouTube Link ], lyrics Les contes d'Hoffmann or The Tales of Hoffmann is an opera composed by Jacques Offenbach in 1881, about a fictionalized account of the life of a real author named ETA Hoffmann. Synopsis: The opera starts in a deserted tavern, where the poet Hoffmann is waiting for his lover, the actress Stella. Hoffmann's Muse, who wants the poet for herself, is disguised as a man named Nicklausse, and keeps Hoffmann company while he recounts the tale of his past three lovers. more » « less Hoffmann's first love is Olympia, a mechanical doll whom only Hoffmann perceives as human (through the use of a pair of magic glasses). His second love is Antonia, who dies while singing and his third love is a courtesan named Giulietta who seduces him and then leaves him for another man.

After Hoffmann finishes telling his tales, Nicklausse reveals that each story actually describes different aspects of one woman: his current lover Stella, who ends up leaving him at the end of the opera. Where you've heard it before: Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni, amongst many other. Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore: Anvil Chorus Here's something unexpected: the creative staging of the Anvil Chorus by the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles: [ YouTube Link ] Like Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi wrote so many great operas like Rigoletto, Aida and La traviata, that it's hard to pick just one. Synopsis: Il Trovatore (The Troubadour) is so full of plot twists, it'll make your head spin. The story begins with Count di Luna, whose infant brother was supposedly sickened by a gypsy. The gypsy was burned at the stake, but before she died, she asked her daughter to take revenge by killing the infant. more » « less Fast forward to the present: Count di Luna and a man named Manrico are courting a lady named Leonora.

After the Count wounds him in a battle, Manrico is nursed back to health by her mother Azucena. She tells the story about her own mother who was burned at the stake after being blamed for a boy's death. To avenge her death, Azucena kidnapped the baby, but in her delirium, she mistakenly threw her own son into the fire. So, she raised the baby she kidnapped as her own son. At this time, a messenger arrives to tell Manrico that Leonora thinks that he is dead, and has gone to enter a convent. Manrico rushes to stop her. Count di Luna captures Manrico and Azucena. To secure Manrico's release, Leonora offers herself to the Count and then takes a poison to kill herself. Enraged, the Count orders Manrico to be beheaded.

As the ax falls, Azucena cries out that her mother has finally been avenged: "You," she tells the Count, "have just killed your own brother." You can read the entire story here: Gioachino Rossini's Barber of Seville: Largo Al Factotum John Rawnsley sings Largo Al Factotum: [ YouTube Link ], lyrics Il barbiere di Siviglia or The Barber of Seville is Rossini's most famous opera. It was written in 1816, and it took Rossini only two weeks to write! Synopsis: The story opens with Count Almaviva, who wants the beautiful Rosina to fall in love with him and not his money, by serenading in disguise as a poor student named Lindoro. Afterwards, the Count meets his former servant, a barber named Figaro, who is singing "Largo Al Factotum" or "Make Way for the Factotum" (factotum means servant) while walking, and asks him to help.

more » « less Figaro agrees and advices him to dress as a drunken soldier to gain entry to Rosina's house (she's living in the house of one Doctor Bartolo, who also wants to marry her). Dr. Bartolo discovers the disguised Count and starts an argument. Soon after, the Officer of the Watch and his men appear and arrests the Count ... only to release him when he tells them who he really is. Count Almaviva appears again at Dr. Bartolo's house, this time disguised as Rosina's signing tutor Basilio. When the Doctor realizes the ruse, he rushes to get a marriage contract drawn. The Count and Figaro climb up a ladder to Rosina's room and Almaviva professes his love. They are discovered by Basilio and a notary, whom they force to draw up a marriage contract between the Count and Rosina. Dr. Bartolo barges in too late.

George Gershwin's Porgy & Bess: Summertime Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong sings "Summertime" [ YouTube Link ], lyrics George Gershwin did not limit himself to just classical or opera - he wrote many popular songs and jazz standards, including Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris, and one of the most famous operas of the 1930s, Porgy and Bess. Synopsis: The opera Porgy and Bess takes place in Catfish Row, a fictitious black tenement in South Carolina. The opera opens with Clara singing the "Summertime" lullaby to her baby, as the men play craps. One by one they crap out, leaving only Robbins and Crown in the game - when Robbins wins, Crown starts a fight and ends up killing him. Crown then runs, telling his woman Bess that she has to fend for herself. Porgy, a cripple and a beggar, is the only one that comforts and shelters her.

more » « less One month later, as the residents of Catfish Row prepare for a picnic, Sportin' Life, the tenement's resident drug dealer, asks Bess to start a new life with him in New York, but she turns him down. Later, Porgy and Bess profess their love for each other. Later, a storm approaches and Clara drowns while trying to rescue her husband in the river, leaving Bess to care for the baby. While everyone mourns for the two people, Crown enters to claim Bess and a fight ensues in which he was killed by Porgy. When the detective comes to question Crown's murder, Porgy is apprehensive. Sportin' Life has told him that corpses bleed in the presence of their murderers and that he would be hanged for his crimes. Porgy refuses to identify the body and is sentenced for contempt of court. In the tenement, Sportin' Life forces Bess to take cocaine, and once again asks her to leave with him to New York. A week later, Porgy is released from jail and returns rich to Catfish Row after winning money playing craps with his cell mates.

When he sees that Clara's baby is with another woman, he is told that Bess had run off with Sportin' Life to New York. The opera ends with Porgy leaving for New York to find Bess. If you like that: Another piece that is particularly awesome (personally, I like it better than Summertime) is "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'." Here's one by Willard White as Porgy: Link Bonus O Fortuna conducted by André Rieu: [ YouTube Link ], lyrics Well, Carmina Burana isn't exactly an opera - it's a cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935 based on 24 of the poems found in in the Burana Codex manuscript, a collection of medieval love and vagabond songs, including gambling songs and parodies. But I'm sure you guys will like it anyhow. Orff's Carmina Burana, like the songs in the Codex, covers a wide topic from the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust.

( Source ) Giacomo Puccini's Gianni Schicchi: O Mio Babbino Caro Maria Callas sings "O mio babbino caro" [ YouTube Link ], lyrics I really, really like O Mio Babbino Caro, but we have two operas by Puccini already, so I decided to substitute it with Habanera from Bizet's Carmen. Still, what's a bonus section for if not for something fun like this? Synopsis: Gianni Schicchi is a shrewd Tuscan peasant in the 13th century, whose daughter Lauretta is in love with a young man named Rinuccio. Rinnucio's relatives, however, are against the marriage because Schicchi is poor. "O mio babbino caro" or "Oh my dear papa" is sung by Lauretta about how she wants to go to the Porta Rossa to buy a ring, but if she can't have his love, then she will go to the Ponte Vecchio bridge to commit suicide.

more » « less Rinuccio's distant relative, a rich man named Buoso Donati dies, and, much to the disappointment of his relatives, leaves a will giving away his fortunes to the monastery. Rinuccio suggests that Schicchi help forge a new will if they agree to his marriage to Lauretta. Schicchi agrees to help by locking himself inside Buoso's room and impersonating his voice. Soon afterwards, Schicchi forges a new will ... leaving all the money to himself! With the money, Lauretta can then marry Rinuccio. Modern Operas If you think that operas are only written a long time ago, you'd be wrong. New operas are being composed all the time - take for instance this 1987 work by John Adams, titled Nixon in China, about President Nixon's visit to the country in 1972.

In the second Act, Pat Nixon tours rural China and meets the wife of Chairman Mao: Alice Goodman sings "I Am the Wife of Mao Tse-Tung": [ YouTube Link ] The style of opera is constantly evolving - for example, Philip Glass wrote a piece called Einstein on the Beach in 1976 that broke all the rules of opera: it was five hours long (with no intermission, so people were free to walk in and out throughout the performance) and included a visual imagery that borders on crazy. [ YouTube Link ] (No, not the same visual as the opera. To see how it was, there's a clip from the documentary called Philip Glass: Looking Glass) I'll be the first to acknowledge that this list is incomplete - we haven't talked about some of the most famous ariass in the world, including La Bohème and Tosca ... not to mention works by Handel and Mozart. If you have a favorite piece that is not mentioned, please tell us in the comment section!

John Derbyshire On Opera: Tolerance, Multiculturalism, Immigration—And Toreadors | VDARE - premier news outlet for patriotic immigration reform John Derbyshire On Opera: Tolerance, Multiculturalism, Immigration—And Toreadors > October 23, 2014, 10:02 pm A+ | a- Warning Oops! Please log in to use this feature. We don’t write much about opera here on VDARE.com, other than in the phrase “soap opera.” A search of our articles for “+opera –soap” brought up just ten items , two of them by me, and none really engaging with opera. Well, it’s high time. There have been three news stories about opera in the past few days, all to some degree pertinent to issues of tolerance, multiculturalism, and immigration. I’ll take them in order. First story:The opera here is Carmen, still a great favorite—number two on the Operabase list , with 667 professional performances worldwide in the last five seasons. You know some of the tunes from Carmen even if you don’t know you know them: the Toreador Song , for instance.

(To which, as children, we used to sing the words: “Toreador, please don’t spit on the floor …”) Carmen, in common with at least three other A-list operas, opens in the city of Seville; to be exact, outside a cigarette factory.

From the Daily Caller : In his cultural history of cigarettes, Cigarettes Are Sublime , [Richard] Klein explained that “Carmen’s Seville, it is no accident, was in the 19th century the principal center and probable origin of cigarette making in Europe—a city famous for its immense factory where thousands of women, many young and barely dressed, languorously rolled cigars and manufactured cigarettes in dense heat and the poisoned air of tobacco smells and human sweat, intoxicated by the thick effluvia arising from leaves and bodies and by their own continuous smoking; their skin was dyed to ravishing or ravished shades of nut-brown color by the stain of nicotine.” In Act I of the opera, a chorus of girl workers from the cigarette factory sings in praise of the weed : Dans l’air, nous suivons des yeux la fumée, la fumée, à la tête, à la tête, tout doucement cela vous met l’âme en fête! (“We follow with our eyes the smoke in the air, which rises, scented, towards the sky.

Pleasantly it rises to your head and gently fills your soul with joy.”) That was too much for Healthway , a government agency which “seeks to promote and support healthy lifestyles to reduce the burden of preventable disease in Western Australia.” When West Australia Opera staged a production of Carmen recently, Healthway … well, they didn’t exactly tell them to stub it out, but they cleared their collective throat suggestively. WA Opera canceled the production. This wasn’t just a matter of the opera company kowtowing to government health bureaucrats. There were financial considerations. To quote from Chapter 52 of the 21st century’s greatest opera novel (so far): “The first truth about modern opera production is that all opera companies and opera houses, everywhere in the world, are chronically hard up.” Healthway, it turns out, is a financial supporter of West Australia Opera under another clause in the agency’s mission statement: Healthway “provides sponsorships to Sport, Arts Racing and Community Events organisations and community groups which encourage healthy lifestyles.” Not that Healthway put financial pressure on WA Opera. Perish the thought!

WA Opera’s general manager, Carolyn Chard, said Healthway did not pressure her into making the decision, but noted that they entered the partnership agreement “with a great deal of respect.” Ri-ight. I wonder what Caruso would have said? Second story: The opera here is La traviata, another longstanding favorite—number one, in fact, in the Operabase rankings , with 748 performances in the last five seasons. Once again, even if you’re not an opera fan, you know at least one tune from La traviata, the Act I drinking song . At some point early in this month the Opéra Bastille, a prestigious opera house in Paris, was staging a performance of La traviata. Sitting in the front row center right behind the conductor—so these are expensive seats we’re talking about, $300 per—were a couple from the Middle East , from one of the Gulf states. The lady was wearing a burqa , with her face covered.

At some point in the second act members of the chorus said they wouldn’t go on again unless the lady was removed, pointing out that the face-covering veil is illegal in France under a law passed in 2010 and upheld by the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year . The lady was asked to leave, and she left, with her companion. Technically she could be fined $300, but it doesn’t look as though that’s going to happen. [ Paris Opera cast refuse to perform for veiled woman , By David Chazan, The Telegraph, October 20, 2014] Anyway, the production continued, with the chorus coming in to sing: Su via, si stenda un velo Sui fatti del passato. (“Come along, let’s draw a veil over what is past and gone.”) This story is really a little parable of the corrosive effect multiculturalism has on liberty. Nobody would ever have thought of a law like that, telling people what they could legally wear—beyond the rules of ordinary decency, I mean—if there were not Muslims in France. Yet another argument for libertarianism in one country : maximum discrimination at the borders, maximum liberty within them.

Third story: New York’s Metropolitan Opera is currently staging a production of The Death of Klinghoffer, a 1991 work by American composer John Adams . This opera is about the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian Arabs in 1985 . Among the passengers on that cruise ship were many American tourists, including Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound 69-year-old Jewish American, and his wife Marilyn. The hijackers shot Klinghoffer dead in his wheelchair, then ordered the ship’s crew to throw corpse and wheelchair overboard, which was done. That’s what John Adams’ opera is about. As usual in opera, you get everyone’s point of view. In Carmen, José expresses his hopeless spurned love (before committing a murder of his own), and Carmen expresses her wild gypsy independence . In La traviata, Alfredo is mad at Violetta for leaving him, and Violetta shows her nobility of heart, having left Alfredo for lofty motives. Everybody gets heard. That’s opera. So in The Death of Klinghoffer we hear one of the hijackers singing: Wherever poor men His sheep and his goat, And the land he wore out.

You just want to see People die. Pretty fair, I say. (You can read the whole libretto here .) Frankly, I think this is a fuss about nothing, and the least interesting of these three stories. Is The Death of Klinghoffer a good opera? I don’t know, I haven’t seen it. Opera is a total experience: music, words, and drama. The music sometimes carries pretty dire drama. To quote from myself : In Bellini’s La straniera the following happens: The jealous Arturo, misunderstanding a meeting between the heroine and her brother, accuses the brother of being his rival. He stabs the brother, who falls into a lake. Apprised of his error by the girl, he throws himself into the lake to save the brother. Both men disappear beneath the waters. The heroine picks up Arturo’s sword and calls for help. People come running and, seeing her with the bloody sword, charge her with murder. At her trial, Arturo suddenly rushes in (“oppressed and gasping”). He confesses to her brother’s murder. While everyone is stunned by this, the brother walks in. “A God came to my aid,” he explains. Opera lovers can supply many similar examples .

Possibly The Death of Klinghoffer will join the catalog of glorious silliness. I don’t know; I haven’t seen it. I did see John Adams’ other well-known work, Nixon in China , and was underwhelmed; but then, my taste in opera is reactionary, so I’m not really the person to ask. Tommasini’s review in the New York Times is positive, in fact quite glowing: “Klinghoffer,” though not without flaws, including a couple of satirical Western characters that could have been left out, is a searching, spiritual and humane work. The piece is as much a ruminative reflection on the events of the hijacked Achille Lauro cruise ship as a dramatization of them. This is one of Mr. Adams’s most inspired and personal scores, with episodes of haunting, hazy music in which, over subdued, ominous, sustained bass tones in the orchestra, instruments spin out melodic lines full of ancient-sounding curlicues. And Ms. Goodman’s poetic libretto, though often enigmatic, is powerfully so.

Parts of the text remind me of Elizabeth Bishop’s poems, which can seem profound and full of richly detailed imagery, even when the meaning is obscure. [ Distress at Sea, and Offstage , By Anthony Tommasini, October 21, 2014] Sure, Tommasini writes for the New York Times. So does Nicholas Wade . So put me down as someone willing to give the benefit of the doubt to high art, if this opera is high art. At least it’s trying to be; and at least one respectable, intelligent critic thinks it gets there, or most of the way there. Having said that, let me add a sour footnote. This work or that might succeed as high art; but there is such a thing as selecting your material. In that regard, the high art of our time, and opera in particular, has been badly corrupted by politics . Adams, like pretty much all contemporary artists , is a white ethnomasochist Lefty. From one of his interviews: With Obama installed, the right has been looking for a cause and immigration is what they’re pushing. Arizona just passed a law ordering the cops to arrest and question anyone they even suspect of looking like an illegal.

I was there for a day last week and couldn’t help noticing all the Hispanic people picking up trash or hauling suitcases in the airport. Were they afraid, had their family members been carted off? And to see the fat whites swaggering round in their uniforms! (Links added)[ John Adams: ‘I just don’t know what to say about American classical music’ , By Peter Conrad, The Observer, June 19, 2010] It would be easier to extend the benefit of the doubt to The Death of Klinghoffer if one did not know that there are points of view Adams would never dream of expressing in a libretto; points of view which, if someone else did put them to music, the Met would not stage. A not-unsympathetic portrayal of Arab terrorists, yoked to a not-unsympathetic portrayal of a Jewish victim? Sure. Now let’s have an opera about the Civil Rights movement, with good expressive arias from George Wallace and Bull Connor—who, after all, had points of view of their own . I’m not holding my breath. John Derbyshire [ email him ] writes an incredible amount on all sorts of subjects for all kinds of outlets.

(This no longer includes National Review, whose editors had some kind of tantrum and fired him. ) He is the author of We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism and several other books . His most recent book, published by VDARE.com com is FROM THE DISSIDENT RIGHT ( also available in Kindle ).His writings are archived at JohnDerbyshire.com . Readers who wish to donate (tax deductible) funds specifically earmarked for John Derbyshire`s writings at VDARE.com can do so here. Georges Bizet (Composer, Arranger) - Short Biography Georges Bizet (Composer, Arranger) Born: October 25, 1838 - Paris, France Died: June 3, 1875 - Bougival, France Georges Bizet was a French composer and pianist of the romantic era. He is best known for his opera Carmen. Biography Georges Bizet was was registered with the legal name Alexandre-César-Léopold Bizet, but was baptized Georges Bizet and was always known by the latter name. He entered the Paris Conservatory of Music a fortnight before his tenth birthday.

Georges Bizet's first symphony, the Symphony in C Major, was written there when he was seventeen, evidently as a student assignment. It seems that Bizet completely forgot about it himself, and it was not discovered again until 1935, in the archives of the Conservatory library. Upon its first performance, it was immediately hailed as a junior masterwork and a welcome addition to the early Romantic period repertoire. A delightful work (and a prodigious one, from a seventeen-year-old boy), the symphony is noteworthy for bearing an amazing stylistic resemblance to the music of Franz Schubert, whose work was virtually unknown in Paris at that time (with the possible exception of a few of his songs). A second symphony, Roma was not completed. In 1857 a setting of the one-act operetta Le docteur Miracle won him a share in a prize offered by Jacques Offenbach. Georges Bizet also won the Music Composition scholarship of the Prix de Rome, the conditions of which required him to study in Rome for three years. There, his talent developed as he wrote such works as the opera Don Procopio.

Apart from this period in Rome, Bizet lived in the Paris area all his life. His mother died shortly after his return to Paris. He composed the opera Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) for the Theatre-Lyrique in 1863, which was an initial failure. He followed it with La jolie fille de Perth (1867), and Jeux d'enfants (Children's games) for the piano. The popular L'arlésienne were originally produced as incidental music for a play by Alphonse Daudet, first performed in 1872. Georges Bizet also composed a romantic opera, Djamileh, which is often seen as a precursor to Carmen, 1875. This latter opera is Bizet's best-known work and is based on a novella of the same title written in 1846 by Prosper Mérimée. Bizet composed the title role for a mezzo-soprano. Carmen was not initially well-received but praise for it eventually came from well-known contemporaries including Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saëns and Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

Their views proved to be prophetic, as Carmen has since become one of the most popular works in the entire operatic repertoire. However Bizet did not live to see its success, as he died from angina at the age of 36 a few months after its first few performances, on his third wedding anniversary. He was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Georges Bizet's music has been used in the 20th century as the basis for several important ballets. The Soviet-era Carmen Suite (1967), set to music drawn from Carmen arranged by Rodion Shchedrin , gave the Bolshoi ballerina Maya Plisetskaya one of her signature roles; it was choreographed by Alberto Alonso. In the West the L'Arlesienne of Roland Petit is well-regarded, and the Symphony in C by George Balanchine is considered to be one of the great ballets of the 20th century. It was first presented as Le Palais de Crystal by the Paris Opera Ballet in 1947, and has been in the repertory there ever since.

The ballet has no story; it simply fits the music: each movement of the symphony has its own ballerina, cavalier, and Corps de Ballet, all of whom dance together in the finale. Works (Selection) L'arlésienne (The Woman of Arles, 1872) Symphony in C (1855)

Question: The 'Toreador's Song' comes from which well known opera?
Answer: Carmen